Internet addiction exists when a person spends excessive time online at the detriment of other life responsibilities and relationships. It can manifest differently based on gender, with males more likely to be addicted to pornography and females to online chatting. While some see it as a distinct disorder, others argue it may be a symptom of underlying mental health issues or behavioral problems like gambling addiction. Research on internet addiction among students using self-reported surveys has limitations and results cannot be generalized to all college populations.

1. Does Internet Addiction exist?
Internet addiction is when a person has a compulsive need to spend a great time of time on
the internet to the point where other areas of life such as relationship, work or exercise, are
allowed to suffer. The person becomes dependent on using the internet and needs to spend
as much as time that person can. In my opinion yes the internet addiction does exist.
There is a range of behaviours that can be referred to as internet addiction. Other terms for
this addiction include Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) and net addiction. Generally
surveys suggest that male who are addicted to spending time online tend to prefer viewing
pornographic websites, while females are attracted to chat room for making platonic and
cyber sexual relationship.
Medical opinion is divided on whether internet addiction exists as mental disorders in its
own right or whether it’s an expression of pre-existing mental disorder or behavioural
problems. For example, a person who is compulsively trawls the net for online gambling
venues may have a gambling problem rather than an internet addiction.
College and university students may be particularly vulnerable to addiction, yet studies on
internet addiction in students typically only use self-selected online surveys, with no control
groups for comparison. Sometimes survey studies do not give reliable results as they may
only study a single class so the data cannot be generalised to a broader group or population
and the construction and use of surveys can produce results that are hard to interpret.